Dear Reader:

If you think you just recently saw this bright visual quote in an earlier post…you aren’t hallucinating and I am not suffering from dementia…at least yet 🙂

It is just that when you read something like this saying (in the title photo)…most of us simply nod our heads and then promptly forget it. But when you experience the reality of it upclose and personal…it sticks with you a long time.

Okay…here’s the story. Mandy dropped Eva Cate off at the house before church service yesterday to spend the day with Boo…helping me trim the tree and finish decorating the rooms…a grandmother-granddaughter ‘girl day‘. I don’t know who was more excited…all I can say is..I sure was!

As children get older…and more experiences and activities come into their lives…it gets harder and harder to chisel out special time with each grandchild. So when it happens…it is near miraculous. And…that brings us back around to the title saying:

“Sometimes miracles are simply good people with kind hearts.”

I experienced someone just like this yesterday..my amazing pastor, Jeff Kackley, as well as , his daughter Locke.

The church service was wonderful  and Eva Cate is at the age now…that she realizes she can read and follow along ..sing hymns and she was really into the sermon and the thoughts behind it with lots of questions…in other words…she is growing up.

Many of you ‘congregationalists’ made Eva Cate feel like a celebrity when you recognized her and called her by name…*from blog recognition growing up in blog posts over (almost) a decade.

After we left service we went to Groucho’s …her favorite ‘stomping’ ground, because Eva Cate loves putting their special sauce on everything she eats ..from the sandwich to the chips to the pickle. We got there early (which was a blessing) since people were already lining up for Summerville’s annual Christmas parade… which didn’t even start until 2 and it was 11:30!

It wasn’t until we left Groucho’s that I realized something important was amiss…my iPhone! In the restaurant I thought I had just left it in the car but it was not there…I cleaned out my coat pockets, we looked under car seats, went back in Groucho’s  -talked to our waitress…nothing.

Finally I decided that the only place left was the sanctuary…I must have left it under my seat when I gathered up everything to leave. So back we went….The choir was holding an extra practice to get ready for the upcoming Christmas events so we “snuck” in the side door and looked under our seats…nothing.

I then went to the vestibule…thinking it was turned into Lost and Found...nothing. Then we went to the office where Jeff and a committee was meeting in the back room but no iPhone was on any desk.

(*I must admit I was starting to swallow a little harder as the impact of what this potential loss meant…no pictures for the blog post, no calls coming in or out, texts or emails…the horrible domino effect was building in my mind.)

I wrote Jeff a note about the situation, placed it on his desk…when suddenly the door opened and the meeting was over. Eva Cate and I went in and I tapped Jeff on the shoulder and inquired about the phone…nothing had been turned into him…but in spite of my protests to the contrary…he went back in the sanctuary with me…looking under the row of seats and inside the side pockets in the chairs…finding nothing.

We went back out in the vestibule…nothing…I know it had been a long morning/early afternoon and Jeff (and his beautiful daughter Locke) were  ready to get home…but instead he asked where I had parked that morning…(after he had gone through my car inch by inch… now parked by the sanctuary.)

I pointed out where I had parked earlier…but begged him not to bother…he had done more than enough-I could go check it out…I would drive the car around there and look…but off he and Locke went. Eva Cate and I got back in the car and started up and around the parking lot…as I made the curve I saw him waving the iPhone triumphantly! (I felt like weeping for joy I was so relieved!)

I do believe ‘miracles sometimes are simply good people with kind hearts‘ like Jeff and his daughter Locke. Still…there was one more unpredictable factor in this situation…not so easily explained.

The iPhone must have fallen on the ground beside the car….either getting in or out of the car-the “miracle” is…the cars on that side of the parking spaces were in close quarters …so close, in fact, that when I went to back out I had to pull up and maneuver in and out several times. How I missed not running over the iPhone was, is, and will continue to be a separate unexplained “miracle” in this story.

So until tomorrow….Never forget that miracles are not limited to the inexplicable...but miracles truly can be really really good people with the kindest of hearts! My hero-Jeff Kackley… who gives the phrase “going an extra mile” … an extra mile! 🙂

Before and After Eva Cate helped me decorate the Christmas tree…

This year we spray painted the old Halloween “tree” stand white and put all the family Christmas cards and photos on it…making our own ‘family tree.’

*Of course Eva Cate couldn’t resist teasing Boo Boo when she found my benchmark birthday white hair/glasses mask from my party back in September…The mask definitely looks better on her…even with her imitating me being “down in the back!” 🙂

By the time I got back home around 6:30 last evening…the town of Summerville was sparkling in the lights…I took time to stop at Hutchinson Square and take a few pictures before heading home.

…And my favorite building…Guerin’s Pharmacy… was all lit up…one of the oldest historical landmarks on town square…this ‘drug store’ still offers the best hotdogs (you can add condiments to them yourself) cherry cokes, and coke floats! A step back into simpler times.

***Guerin’s is the oldest pharmacy in South Carolina-* Quick History

Guerin’s Pharmacy, located in downtown Summerville, is the oldest pharmacy in South Carolina, having operated as an independent pharmacy since 1871. A pharmacist from Charleston, Dr. Schwettman, moved his business to Summerville during the civil war.

Upon returning to Summerville after completing his service to his country, Dr. Henry C. Guerin purchased the Summerville side of the business and Dr. Schwettman returned to Charleston. Dr. Joseph A. Guerin, son of Dr. Henry C. Guerin, took over ownership upon the death of his father. Dr. Herbert F. Dunning worked with Dr. Joseph A. Guerin from whom he purchased the business. Charles H. Dunning, Jr. began working for his uncle and Dr. Joseph A. Guerin at the age of 12. He purchased the business from his uncle’s estate in 1975.

After his death in 2014, his daughter, Barbara A. Dunning, is the owner and pharmacist in charge. Working alongside her is Joshua Kister, Pharm D, who has been with Guerin’s since 2009. In September 2017, Guerin’s was bestowed a historical South Carolina marker by the Summerville Preservation Society. It is located outside of the pharmacy on the Richardson side of the building.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh